1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to emergency signaling devices and, in particular, to an emergency signaling device for use on municipal vehicles.
2. Brief Statement of the Prior Art
Municipal vehicles such as police, fire and street department automobiles, trucks and the like must often carry emergency signaling devices for warning or arresting other traffic. These emergency warning devices are often bulky and cumbersome and are conspicuously mounted on the roof of the vehicle, preventing concealment of the purpose of the vehicle. Typical of these is the arresting light structure commonly carried on police patrol vehicles. When such a structure is permanently installed on a vehicle it prevents the employment of the vehicle for surveillance duty where the identity of the vehicle must be disguised. Even when emergency and arresting facilities are temporarily mounted on the roof of the vehicle, they attract an undesirable amount of attention and effectively prohibit disguising of the traffic patrol vehicle.
Various attempts have been made to conceal emergency signaling devices such as the concealed beacon disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,607. The patented beacon has a limited freedom of movement and cannot be elevated any substantial distance above the roof line of the vehicle. Another attempt to provide a folding emergency signaling device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,184 where the emergency signaling lights are carried in a box which is mounted on the rooftop of the vehicle and which is not concealed from view. This device employs a complex lazy tongs elevating mechanism that is too bulky for concealment.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an emergency signaling device in an assembly that can be mounted totally within the roof line of a vehicle thereby concealing the otherwise conspicuous alarm devices. It is likewise desirable to provide such an assembly with a substantial vertical travel whereby the emergency signaling mechanism can be lifted totally without the vehicle and supported at a substantially elevated, spaced apart position from the vehicle roof line.
Other and related objectives will be apparent from the following description of the invention.